The present invention relates to a needle protecting cap and a needle disposal instrument that enable used injection needles to be safely disposed of without a risk of inadvertent piercing of fingers or the like.
In recent years, xe2x80x9caccidental needle piercingxe2x80x9d in which doctors or nurses inadvertently pierce their fingers or the like with injection needles after used for patients has become an issue. In fact, a few thousand of such accidents have been reported all over Japan. The accidental needle piercing develops into serious incidents that put the lives of doctors or nurses at risk if the needles have been used for patients infected by AIDS (HIVE), hepatitis B, hepatitis C, or the like.
Accidental needle piercing most frequently takes place when disposing of used injection needles. Generally, in order to avoid risks caused by disposing of naked injection needles, protecting caps are used to cover distal ends of the injection needles before discarding them.
The protecting caps, however, have small diameters ranging from a few millimeters up to about 10 mm, depending on injection needles for which the caps are used. Hence, when attaching the cap to the needle by inserting a distal end of the needle in an aperture formed in one end of the cap, the distal end frequently fails to be properly inserted into the small aperture, causing the distal end to pierce a finger holding the protecting cap.
To solve such a problem, various kinds of needle protecting caps or associated instruments thereof have been proposed as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-76873, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-121836, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-154325, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7-275360, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-89573, Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 60-187735, etc.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1-76873 discloses a needle protecting cap provided with a guard at the end thereof. With this arrangement, if an injection needle misses an insertion port when inserting the needle in the protecting cap, fingers holding the protecting cap are protected by the guard.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-121836 discloses a needle protecting cap provided with a lever making use of an action of a lever or a wedge. The lever is held when inserting a needle into the cap so as to keep a distance between the needle and a finger tip, making it possible to prevent accidents of fingers touching the distal ends of needles or accidents of stabbing finger tips.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 8-89573 discloses a needle protecting cap in which a part of its shank is provided with a vertically split groove having a width to allow a needle end to be inserted. A needle is inserted in the protecting cap so that the entire needle is dropped along the vertically split groove. With this arrangement, the needle cannot be moved in a direction to pierce a finger, thus making it possible to prevent accidental needle piercing.
Japanese Unexamined Utility Model Publication No. 60-187735 discloses a needle guide groove formed in a side surface of a needle port section. A side surface of the needle is applied to the needle guide groove and pulled away from a needle end to drop the needle end into an insertion port, and then the needle end is inserted in a main body portion. This arrangement makes it possible to prevent the needle end from missing the insertion port at the time of attaching, thereby preventing accidents in which a hand or a finger is stabbed by the needle end.
Thus, diverse attempts have been made in the past to prevent accidental needle piercing, and have been effective in their own way in disposal of ordinary injection needles.
However, none of the protecting caps proposed in the publications described above are suitable for disposal of winged injection needles, although they are suitable for disposal of ordinary injection needles in which the caps are attached to the distal ends of the needle main bodies.
The winged needles are mainly used for drip, and has a pair of butterfly-shaped resilient wings provided on both sides of the needles. As injection can be implemented by holding the wings, it is no longer necessary to attach a needle to a syringe. This arrangement makes it possible to reduce risks of infection and to enable secure fixation of the needle so as to allow stable drip in longer time.
In every one of the protecting caps set forth above, the protecting cap must be taken out for each needle to be disposed of and held by fingers to attach it to the needle. Especially in a large hospital where hundreds of injection needles are used daily, the protecting caps are inconvenient for storage and inefficient and difficult in disposal when they are used in succession.
An object of the present invention is to provide a protecting cap that permits disposal of winged injection needles as well as ordinary injection needles, and to further provide a needle disposal instrument that permits efficient disposal of a large quantity of needles.
A needle protecting cap in accordance with the present invention is a needle protecting cap comprising a cylindrical body having an insertion port at one end thereof and is capable of holding an injection needle. A peripheral wall inclusive of the insertion port is cut from the side of the insertion port toward the distal end to form a longitudinal elongated notch, and a slit is formed which extends from a distal end of the notch toward the other end of the cylindrical body, or a locking portion for locking a winged needle which is oriented toward the insertion port is formed at the distal end of the notch.
To use the protecting cap in accordance with the present invention for an ordinary syringe needle, the needle is set so that it is substantially parallel to an upper part of the notch, and, in this state, the needle is moved in a direction at right angles to an axis of the protecting cap, and then inserted in the protecting cap from the notch. The needle is further slid toward the distal end of the protecting cap to install the needle in the protecting cap. In the case of a winged needle, the needle is inserted from the notch and slid forward, and the wings are pinched in the slit to lock them or in the locking portion to place the needle in the protecting cap.
Thus, the needle can be placed in the protecting cap without largely moving the needle in its axial direction, thereby preventing accidental finger piercing with conventional protecting caps designed to be held by fingers. Moreover, the protecting cap also allows winged needles to be placed in the cap as safely as in the case of ordinary needles, which has been impossible with the conventional protecting caps.
When a winged needle is locked by pinching it in the slit, a total length of the notch and the slit of the protecting cap mentioned above, or a length of the notch for locking the winged needle by pinching it in the locking portion, is preferably one third or more of a length of a needle used. If the notch is excessively short for the length of the needle, then the distal end of the needle tends to jut out of the protecting cap when the needle is inserted into the notch and slid toward the distal end of the cap.
The same materials used for the conventional protecting caps may be used for the protecting cap. Preferably, however, a resilient durable synthetic resin is used for the slit portion or the locking portion formed at the distal end of the notch. In addition, it is preferable to form the slit and the locking portion by cutting a part of the cylindrical body of the protecting cap. This permits easy mass production making use of conventional products.
Preferably, the slit for locking the winged needle formed so as to extend from the distal end of the notch to the other end of the cylindrical body and the locking portion for locking the winged needle formed at the distal end of the notch are provided with means for preventing the winged needle from falling out. The means for preventing the needle from falling out may be formed by mechanically knurling the surface which contacts the winged needle, or by making the contacting surface highly adhesive.
Furthermore, a slit which can be expanded in a direction in which the insertion port spreads may be formed in the peripheral wall of the insertion port. Forming such a slit enables an end portion of the insertion port to resiliently spread, permitting easy insertion of a proximal end of a needle regardless of the size of the needle.
A ridge line of the peripheral wall defining an outer edge of the longitudinal notch formed by cutting the peripheral wall inclusive of the insertion port from the side of the insertion port toward the distal end thereof may be shaped so as to form a narrow portion at the insertion port. With this arrangement, an inserted needle can be securely retained without a danger of falling out.
A needle disposal instrument in accordance with the present invention that includes the protecting cap set forth above and permits efficient use of the needle protecting cap comprising the cylindrical body having the insertion port at one end thereof and capable of holding a needle is provided with a case body that accommodates a plurality of needle protecting caps, each of the caps being formed of a cylindrical body having an insertion port at one end thereof and capable of holding a needle, and holds the needle protecting caps in such a posture that used needles can be inserted from the insertion ports, and further provided with means for preventing the needle protecting caps attached to the case body from falling out.
The means for preventing the falling out is preferably an open/close cover fitted to the case body on the side of the insertion ports for the needle protecting caps accommodated in the case body. Installing the open/close cover on the side of the insertion ports of the protecting caps makes it possible to prevent the protecting caps from falling out and also to prevent needles placed in the protecting caps from falling out.
In the needle disposal instrument in accordance with the present invention before use, a plurality of empty protecting caps are accommodated in the case body, and the insertion ports of the protecting caps are covered by the cover for preventing falling out. To use the needle disposal instrument, the fall-out preventing cover is opened, and a needle is inserted from the insertion port of the protecting cap and settled in the protecting cap. When all the accommodated protecting caps are filled with needles, the protecting caps are removed from the needle disposal instrument and placed in another container.
At this time, providing a handle at a position away from the position where the open/close cover for preventing the case body from falling out is fit enables a needle to be settled in the protecting cap while holding the handle by a hand. This also makes it possible to keep a distance between the needle and fingers holding the handle, contributing to the prevention of accidental needle piercing. In addition, providing a stand for the case body to support itself will securely prevent accidental needle piercing because a hand or fingers will not be positioned in front of a needle when attaching it to the protecting cap.
The needle disposal instrument may be equipped with a case body which accommodates a plurality of needle protecting caps, the case body maintaining a posture of the accommodated needle protecting caps so that notches of the needle protecting caps are exposed for allowing used injection needles or winged needles to be inserted and having a removal port through which the needle protecting caps can be taken out one by one and urging means for urging the accommodated needle protecting caps toward the removal port.
In the above needle disposal instrument, the protecting caps installed in the needle disposal instrument are mounted on distal ends of ordinary injection needles or winged needles according to the procedure described above and then removed from the needle disposal instrument. With this arrangement, the accommodated protecting caps are pushed out to the removal port in sequence by the urging means, enabling the protecting caps to be mounted onto the next injection needle or winged needle in sequence.
Thus, the arrangement not only permits successive use, but also permits an injection needle or a winged needle to be settled in the protecting caps while holding the case body or the handle provided on the case body by a hand. Hence, the distance between the injection needle or the winged needle and fingers holding the case body can be kept, contributing to the prevention of accidental needle piercing as well.